He and Olivia attend a few games each season, but mostly watch Peyton and Eli on TV. Archie, who joined DirecTV as a spokesman in 1998, said he's got his son-watching system down to a science, even when they're playing at the same time.

"I know how to split the screen and get them both,'' he said with a hint of pride in his technical prowess. "And what really drives my wife crazy is when I've got both games on the split screen and I bring my radio in and listen to the Saints at the same time. She doesn't care for that.''

Peyton said he and Eli, although both quite young when their dad retired from football, have learned a lot about him as a player.

"He was a tremendous competitor, always kept himself in great shape, took a lot of pride in working out and keeping himself injury-free to be there on Sunday,'' Peyton said. "Naturally it had an impact on Eli and me, as far as working out in the offseason and keeping in good shape and being accountable to your teammates.''

Then there were the bruising brother-on-brother basketball matchups in the backyard. First, with the eldest of the three, Cooper, teaching Peyton some hard-earned lessons, then eventually, Peyton doing the same to Eli. Cooper, a promising wide receiver who had to give up football at Ole Miss because of an injury, is two years older than Peyton.

"Dad was a little worried one of us would get hurt,'' Eli recalled. "And after a while he took the backboards down because he didn't want us playing anymore.''

The family is scattered now, with the brothers living in the cities where they play and Archie in New Orleans.

"We are very close. We try to make time for each other, whether it's coming to New Orleans for a weekend or whatever,'' Eli said. "Cooper's is kind of the house where you hang out now. He's got the three kids, our niece and nephews, so we'll go over there and hang out with his kids and have fun.''

Archie and Olivia finally have a girl in the family, Cooper's 5-year-old daughter, May.

"Poor mom's been to more football, basketball and baseball games than any woman deserves to go to,'' Eli said. "So she's been excited to have a little girl to spoil, go shopping, go to lunch.''

As for extending the family tradition, Eli joked that grandsons Arch, 4, and Heid, 2, already are getting recruiting letters.

For now, the Mannings have another few months to enjoy their Super Bowl successes. Then, Peyton said, it will be business as usual.

"Two years in a row within our family certainly has been special, but it's nothing we take for granted,'' he said. "It's been humbling in a lot of ways, to have been a part of the whole process. We'll see, maybe we can try to keep it within the family, but both Eli and I both know it's very much 'What have you done for me lately?'''

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